The present invention relates to a baling apparatus and method for wrapping round bales with twine and, more particularly, to a baling apparatus and method for controlling the distribution of twine onto a round bale in response to the measured quantity of twine being dispensed, and in response to operator selected parameters for the operation of the baler.
For many years agricultural practices have included baling of forage crops such as hay and alfalfa with the objective of preserving these crops to feed livestock when needed, such as during the winter or other non-growing season or when adequate grazing resources are not otherwise available. One common method of preserving forage crops is to form the forage crop into bales which can be easily stored. Included are bales which are typically rectangularly shaped and sized such that an individual can stack and move these hay bales a short distance to a barn or their storage area. Also included are round bales which can be better suited than rectangular bales for specific needs of agriculture and livestock feeding.
Round baling has gained wide acceptance in many facets of agriculture and livestock handling for gathering and storing forage crops. Round balers are generally pulled by a tractor through a field of cut forage crop, such as hay or alfalfa, which is then introduced into the round baler through a passageway or throat leading to a cylindrical chamber. Belts or rollers are utilized within the chamber to form and tumble the forage material into a large cylindrical, or round, bale of forage crop. In addition, it is well known to tie or wrap the bale in the field with twine or netting to preserve the densely packed outer shell and to maintain the bale in its cylindrical shape. Because these bales usually are quite large, often approaching six feet in diameter and 2,000 pounds in weight, systems have been developed for automatically wrapping the bale with twine or netting while the bale rotates within the baler. Automatic mechanisms have evolved which are intended to minimize the time and effort necessary to wrap a bale.
Automatic twine tying machines use rolls of twine fed into the baling chamber by various cooperating feed arms that deploy the twine in a desired wrapping pattern. Other automatic wrapping mechanisms wrap the bale with polymeric sheeting or netting fed into the baler from a large roll of sheeting or netting that is unwound, fed into the baling chamber and wrapped around the bale as the formed bale is rotated within the baler. Some roll wrapping systems are less than fully desirable because of their expense or somewhat complicated mechanisms, some of which are not particularly well suited to use on fixed chamber round balers. Further, previous roll wrapping mechanisms have been difficult to adjust for achieving desired performance characteristics.
In addition, prior art twine tying machines which incorporate programmable controllers for controlling the distribution of the twine to particular locations on the bale have proven difficult for operators to program without first gaining experience in the operation of the machine. Specifically, prior art controllers for twine tying machines have typically included a teaching mode of operation wherein the operator manually manipulates the operation of the machine in real time. In this manner, a program is simultaneously produced and input into the controller wherein the program consists of time controlled manipulation of guide tubes for distributing twine onto the bale. This method of programming a controller can prove to be difficult until the operator obtains a certain level of skill for properly manipulating the twine guide tubes to move to particular locations on the bale at particular times in the wrapping operation. In addition, such a wrapping operation is typically designed to operate at a predetermined operating speed for the baler such that the twine distribution on the bale may vary depending on variations in the speed of the baler.
Accordingly, there is a need for a twine wrap control for a round baler wherein the control of the twine guide for guiding twine onto the bale operates independently of the speed of the baler. Further, there is a need for such a twine control wherein a controller may be programmed to provide a desired wrap pattern on a bale independently of the time required to wrap the bale.